What does it actually take to design a space that people feel something in?
Not just a room that looks good in a render — but a space with genuine thought, soul, and longevity baked into every decision.
We came across this conversation between Guy Stanley of Space by Stansons and Jenny Edwards, Creative Director at Optra, and it stopped us in our tracks. In under an hour, Jenny covers why AI-generated interiors are misleading clients, how designing sustainably from day one is actually the cheaper option, and why inclusivity isn’t a compliance checkbox — it’s a talent strategy.
This is the kind of thinking we exist to amplify at myinnovare.com — practical, human-centred ideas from people who are actively shaping the built environment. We’ve lightly edited the transcript for readability. The conversation, and the conviction behind it, is entirely theirs.
GUY STANLEY
Hey, welcome to another episode of Space by Stansons. Today I’m with Jenny Edwards, Creative Director at Optra. A really great story from her career — and how her personal interests pull into workplace design. Jenny, paint the creative director role quickly.
JENNY EDWARDS
So essentially, we run the whole process in terms of the design aspect. Typically you may get a project that comes in either as a pitch, or it may be a client you’ve worked with in the past. Our business is set up in teams, with some of us in central. You may go to an initial meeting when the project is just an idea — that’s when you start doing your space plans.
Then when it becomes more defined — when the pitch date is set, there’s a submission, there’s a process — that’s when we involve the wider team. Under us we’ll have other creative designers, technical designers, and visualisers. We work alongside pre-con who do the costing. So you’re running the whole design process towards pitch, working alongside a project director and the team.
The best bit is that because you have that step-back picture, you can see how all the pieces are coming together. It gives you a really good ability to work with lots of different people. It’s a very varied role — dashing around speaking to different people, working back and forth with graphic designers, visualisers. All such different people.
GUY STANLEY
With you — because I like to talk to loads of people in a day too — how do you keep that organised?
JENNY EDWARDS
Partially it’s about having a good memory, but for me it’s keeping notes on everything — every meeting, every project. I have OneNote tabs for every project, every meeting I’ve ever had. Even a client from two years ago: if they come back around, I can pull up what we had before.
The meticulous note-taking almost takes it out of my brain, puts it on paper, and then I can move on to something else. You can also search within OneNote for a word — so if I’m looking for you, I search your name and it shows me every page that mentions it.
GUY STANLEY
I’ve had every note-taking platform and app. Have you used Miro?
JENNY EDWARDS
I am obsessed with it. Love it. It’s great because you can see the process. It’s basically an endless digital whiteboard — no end to it, no linear way. I’ve had the same Miro board for a project I’ve been working on for two years. You can see two years’ worth of thinking on that board.
I love Pinterest, but with Miro — because you can use it on the iPad — I can do sketches on top of the board, overlay a sketch of a reception desk, put materials next to it. With Pinterest it’s very linear. Miro is more overlapping, more beautiful in how it all lays out.
GUY STANLEY
Pinterest needs a bit of explaining too — “I saved this picture but it’s that bit that’s why I saved it. The idea of a skylight, not necessarily that skylight.”
JENNY EDWARDS
Exactly. And the other problem now is there’s a huge influx of AI-generated images on Pinterest. I’ll be looking at something thinking it’s beautiful — but it’s not real. And it couldn’t be real. You look at it and think: you can never build that.
AI, Creativity, and Design With Soul
JENNY EDWARDS
I think AI can be great when used in the right way, there’s plenty of people using GEO services from experienced and talented people but it can be quite dangerous. A client using AI to create an image — there’s no soul to it. No reason. It’s like “I like brown chairs and I like cats” — it gives you an image with brown chairs and cats. But it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just images gathered without thought.
People always say: “Do you think AI is going to take your job?” And I think — personally, no. Because the whole reason most designers do what they do is that we absolutely love it. You design with a soul. I can tell you every detail about why I picked a finish, why something is at a certain height. There’s a reason behind everything.
With AI, that thought process isn’t there. You don’t get the “wow” moment — that arrival experience where you build a reveal so that when someone comes around a wall, they get that moment. That’s what we’re all looking for in a project.
GUY STANLEY
And it’s quite repetitive now — generative AI is starting to look the same again and again. And when you’re designing for people — emotions, neurodiversity, how you design in pinch points to encourage collaboration, or design out flows so people move quicker — AI falls over on that.
JENNY EDWARDS
That kind of thinking is just too advanced for AI right now. And you don’t want everything to look the same. That’s the beauty of a human being being part of it.
Look at something like our work with Neko Health — most people don’t believe it’s a real space because it’s so perfectly coordinated. But every single aspect was thought through — by their designers, our designers, our technical team. The level of detail it takes to create that kind of space is incredible. And AI makes it look so easy. That’s what I think is a shame — it does a disservice to what actually goes into it.
GUY STANLEY
The design process is really important. Even if you used AI for initial visuals, you’d lack all that deep thought. By the time you get to build and finishing, all those decisions — that’s where the thinking pays off. No surprises, no extra costs.
JENNY EDWARDS
We can always tell visuals that have been done in haste. Sometimes we have to, due to timescales. But typically the visuals created over time — in tandem with the client and visualiser — are pretty spot on. When they show you the visual alongside the real space and they match: that’s great design. You’ve really thought about it. You’ve really planned it.
Best Quotes
“Creativity, I don’t think, is really taught. You can be taught how to follow a process. But I don’t think you can teach creativity. I think it’s something you either have or you don’t.”
“You design with a soul. I can tell you every detail about why — why did we pick this finish, why is this at this height? There’s a reason behind everything. With AI, that thought process isn’t there.”
“Designing for people is the number one important thing in any project. If you design something that is a healthy environment for those people, you fundamentally improve their business.”
From Perkins & Will to Design & Build — A Culture Shift
GUY STANLEY
What do you miss most about Perkins & Will?
JENNY EDWARDS
I miss the people. It was such a supportive, friendly, really decent bunch. And because everyone is a designer in a consultancy like that, it’s like kinsmen — you can walk into the tea point and go “everyone look at this material” and everyone gathers around.
I’d always wanted to work there because of their push on sustainability — and not as a sales thing. When I got there I was genuinely surprised, in a good way, that everyone actually believes it. It’s not box-ticking. They have a Red List — things you’re not allowed to specify — and they don’t give clients an option. To be so strong in your convictions of this is the right way to do it — I think that’s really, really cool.
GUY STANLEY
And then you went to Maris — that’s quite a culture shock.
JENNY EDWARDS
The culture is super different. A lot of people have strong opinions about Maris. Personally, I really liked it. It’s so dynamic — so loud, there’s always something going on. I’m a very energetic person, and I thrive in those environments. No one’s ever going to tell you you’re too loud at Maris. They’ll say you’re not being loud enough.
Coming out of COVID, I wanted to be back in an energetic, busy environment. And it really made me look at design in a completely different way. At Perkins there’s more of a recognised look to projects — beautiful, but a recognisable house style. At Maris, at a D&B firm, there’s no style, no house point of view — just the individual designer. That absolute freedom was almost overwhelming.
It was like doing life-drawing classes where you’re given five seconds to sketch — the first and last are always completely different. Doing multiple options in D&B drives something out of you that’s completely different from where you’d start. Very challenging, but really good for growth.
GUY STANLEY
D&B used to have a bit of a bad reputation — cookie-cutter, fly-by-night builder sort of thing.
JENNY EDWARDS
And that was a misconception I held too — I didn’t know anyone in D&B, so I just absorbed what others said. But it’s not like that. You can’t show someone a wood floor and install vinyl without their signed-off approval. Every finish, every product has to be completely signed off. And I think now the designers in both trad and D&B — when you get down to it — the innate creativity is the same. It’s just a different process.
Sustainability, Waste, and Designing for the Long Term
JENNY EDWARDS
People used to say a D&B project had a two-year lifespan. I strongly disagree. If you’re wholesale changing an environment you built two years ago, there’s a flaw — the design wasn’t thought through, or the client didn’t know what they wanted. We’re now strongly pushing towards designing for lease events. If you’re taking this space for 20 years, I want what we put in to have the ability to last 20 years.
We’re also exploring material passports — tracking the product lifecycle so when buildings change hands or facilities evolve, you can still trace the life of everything you installed. And there’s a whole secondhand market for things like lights and fan coils that most people don’t know exists. Companies like Material Index will come in, do a full audit, and sell or donate products to make sure they don’t go to landfill.
A lot of waste is created at the point of manufacture. If a product comes in a standard size and you specify bespoke, the manufacturer has to cut it — and that offcut is probably thrown away. If you design to standard sizes, you reduce waste from manufacture all the way to installation. It’s also faster to install — and low-VOC adhesives matter too, because you can have the best panel in the world and stick it on with terrible glue.
GUY STANLEY
So it’s not just about using recycled materials — it’s about designing out waste architecturally, in the components and how it all goes together. And if you do it right, it should actually be cost effective.
JENNY EDWARDS
Exactly. And it’s also about designing for dismantle. The old way is to glue everything. But in five years your business changes and you want to reconfigure. If things are designed to be taken apart, you can. Instead of bleacher seating that’s inaccessible to some people, flip it: the presenter is on a stage with a lifting platform, and everyone sits on a flat, fully accessible floor. Change your perspective — it doesn’t have to affect the design negatively.
And the sustainability business case is strong too: only 66% of office space is typically utilised at any one time. If you minimise sick days through healthier environments — low VOC levels, good air quality — you push towards 80% utilisation, which meaningfully improves the return on your rent spend. Sustainability fundamentally affects your business, whether financial people think so or not.
Inclusive Design — Build It Right From the Start
JENNY EDWARDS
People get nervous when sustainability is mentioned — they immediately think cost. Same with inclusivity — they think it means all these complicated add-ons. But if you design it in from the beginning, it looks so beautiful. Anything added in later as a retrofit — you can tell. And it’s such a shame.
Why not just do it from day one? We saw an amazing example of this with a company building permacast concrete walls, they had this software that mapped vantage points to a home based on wall height. Obviously that’s not an afterthought. Don’t write an access strategy — design it properly from the beginning so everything is accessible. If someone joins with accessibility needs tomorrow, you’re ready. You don’t have to say “we need to make changes.” You’re a fully inclusive business, already prepared.
And if you want to attract the best talent, an inclusive space signals: we employ people for their talent, not their physical or mental abilities. That’s the world people want to work in.
GUY STANLEY
And the gap between the cost of doing it now versus later is actually much smaller than people think — you’re just moving cost between columns.
JENNY EDWARDS
Exactly. You’re going to have to make those changes eventually. Why not just do it now? Walk away from the project knowing: for the next ten, twenty years, until the next lease event — you’re sorted.
On Voice, Influence, and Making an Impact
JENNY EDWARDS
Sometimes when you’re junior you feel like, “I don’t really have that much project impact.” But even then you’re absorbing everything. And people who push that sustainability message in a way that’s palatable and real — not overly academic — are so important to any business. They’re flying the flag.
You can only control what you’re doing — your reaction to things, how you deal with them. And as you grow in your career, your voice gets bigger. So if you have a message you care about, push it. Even if you’re not the most confident person — you attract what you are. Be clear about where you stand, and you’ll start picking up the right projects, the right clients, and eventually become a sustainability voice within your business.
Key Takeaways
- Creativity can’t be taught — but process, communication, and pitching can. The innate creative spark is the same whether someone came through traditional architecture or a design-and-build route. What matters is the person, not the path.
- AI images lack soul and process — they look effortless but hide the extraordinary coordination and thought required to build real, compliant, human-centred spaces. The design process itself is where the value lives.
- Sustainable design should reduce cost, not add it — designing to standard sizes, for dismantle, and with longevity in mind removes waste at every stage: manufacture, installation, and operation. A healthier workspace also directly improves office utilisation and reduces sick days.
- Inclusive design works best when baked in from day one — retrofitted accessibility is always visible and always more expensive. Designing for all people from the outset signals the kind of business that attracts the best talent — and it simply looks better.
- Your voice matters at every career level — even junior designers absorb and influence. Those who genuinely care about sustainability and push that message consistently will find their project influence growing naturally over time.